harker



Jan. 31, 1956 c. B. HARKER DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR DOUBLE BAGS Filed Sept. 27, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 31, 1956 c. B. HARKER 2,732,989

DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR DOUBLE BAGS Filed Sept. 27, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent: '9

DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR DOUBLE BAGS Charles B. Harker, Rockford, Ili., assignor to Bartelt Engineering Company, Rockford, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Application September 27, 1952, Serial No. 311,905

3 Claims. (Cl. 226-59) This invention relates to a dispensing apparatus for use in a packaging machine of the type in which a row of bags are supported open end up and advanced step by step to present each bag successively to a first filling station where the bottom portion of the bag is filled, then to a sealing station where the walls of the bag are joined together transversely intermediate the ends of the bag and then to a second filling station where the upper portion of the bag above the seal is filled. A machine of this general type is disclosed in the copending application of Harold L. Bartelt, Serial No. 283,962, filed April 23,

1952, now Patent Number 2,649,673. More particularly, 1

the invention has reference to a dispensing device of the type in which a filling spout is lowered into a bag and then deposits the material to be packaged in the bag.

One object of the invention is to provide in a machine of the above character a new andimproved dispensing apparatus in which a filling spout is disposed at each of the filling stations and the two spouts are lowered together but the spout at the first station is lowered farther than the other spout .so that it discharges the material near the bottom of the bag while the other spout deposits the material in the top of the bag.

A more detailed object is to obtain the differential lowering of the filling spouts by mounting the two spouts on a lever which extends along the path of the bags and which is fulcrumed at a point beyond the second filling station so that the spout at the first filling station is farther from the axis of .thelever than is the other spout.

Another object is to connect the twospouts by a parallelogram linkage to maintain the spouts upright as they are lowered into their respective bags.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a fragmentary side view of a packaging machine incorporating thenovel dispensing apparatus of the present invention. 7

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the dispensing apparatus.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side view of the stops used to open the filling spouts.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of the dispensing apparatus.

For the purposes of illustration, the invention is shown in the drawings embodied in a packaging machine in which a succession of bags '10 are delivered one by one at a loading station 11 to a carrier 12 for gripping and supporting the bags in spaced relation open end up and advancing the bags edgewise step by step through .afilling station 13, a station 14 at which a horizontal seal 15 is formed across the center of the bag, a second filling station 16, a closing station 17 where a top seal 18 is formed and a cut-off station 19 where the cross seal 15 is severed intermediate its edges. At the first filling station, the material to be packaged is deposited in the bottom of the bag while, at the second filling station, the bag is filled above the cross seal so that cutting the seal divides the bag into separate sealed bag sections or packages 20 and .21 (Fig. 4).

The various mechanisms used in the packaging operations are mounted on an elongated horizontal frame 22.

and are operated in timed relation to each other from a horizontal camshaft 23 driven continuously by a suitable motor (not shown). As disclosed more fully in :the aforesaid application, the carrier or conveyor 12 is in the form of an endless chain 24 driven intermittently from the camshaft through a suitable mechanism (not shown) and carrying a plurality of grippers 25 spaced at equal intervals along the conveyor. As shown in Fig. 4, each igrippercornprises a pair of vertically spaced spring closed clamps 26 and 27 which grip respectively the upperand lower bag sections 20 and 21 along the leading edge of the bag. When a gripper is dwelling at the loading station 11, a cam 28 (Fig. l) on the shaft 23 acts on an upright follower lever 29 to rock the latter about a fulcrum 30 and open the clamps 26 and 27 in order to receive a bag delivered to the loading station. Before the next advance of the conveyor, the lever is rocked back permitting the clamps to-close and grip the bag.

When a bag it) is delivered to the loading station 1 1, the margins of the front and back panels are sealed together as indicated at 31 (Fig. 4) from the bottom of the bag to a point short of the upper end'so that the upper edge portions 32 of the bag may be held apart by a splitter blade 33 disposed above the bags and extending to the first filling station 13. Thus, when the bag reaches the first filling station, its mouth is held open to receive a filling spout 34 which is lowered into the bag to fill the latter and then is lifted out of the bag. The spout is disposed in an opening between the splitter blade 33 and a similar splitter blade 35 mounted 011 the machine frame 22 and extending all the way to the second filling station 16.

Material to be packaged is delivered to the filling spout 34 through a tube 36 disposed above and alined with the upper end of the spout. The material is stored in a hopper 37 and is measured out and delivered to the tubejperiodically in timed relation to the up'and down movements of the spout by a suitable mechanism 38 of well known construction. Propertiming-is achieved by driving the filler mechanism from acam 39 on the shaft 23.

.After the spout .34 is retracted out of the bag 10., the latter is advanced to the sealing station 14, which herein is two steps from the filling station. At the sealing station, the cross seal 15 is formed by a sealing element 40 and the bag then is carried to the second filling station 16 where a spout 41 is lowered into the bag to fill the section 29 above the cross seal and then lifted out of the bag. As in the case of the spout 34, material from a hopper 37' is deposited in the spout 41 through a tube 36. From the second filling station, the bag is advanced to the sealing station 17 where the mouth of the bag is closed by a sealing element 42 and then to the cut-off sattion 19 where the bag sections 20 and 21 are severed 'by a knife 33. The sealing elements 4%) and 42 and the knife 43 are mounted on the upper ends'of upright levers 44- which are similar to the lever 29 'and are rocked during dwelling of the bags by cams 45 on the shfit 23.

To lower each filling spout into the bag section in which the material it is carrying is to be deposited, the present invention contemplates the provision of a novel mechanism which moves the spouts 34 and 41 together during a dwell of the bags but which lowers the spout 34 down into the bag section 21 while lowering the, spout 51 only a short distance to enter the bag section 29. Herein this mechanism comprises an elongated lever arm 46 extending over the path of the bags from the first *filling station 13 to a'point 47 (Fig 4) beyond the second filling station 16 where it is fulcrumed on an upright frame plate 48 to swing about a horizontal axis normal to the bag path. The arm 46 carries the spouts 34 and 41 and, since the former is a greater distance from the fulcrum 47 than the latter, it is lowered farther into its respective bag when the arm is swung down about its axis.

Preferably, the two spouts 34 and 41 are of the socalled clam-shell type and, during vertical movement into and out of the bag, are respectively opened and closed. As shown in Fig. 2, the spout 34 comprises two clam-shell buckets 49 of channel cross section gradually tapering downwardly to a point and opening toward each other to form a closed and elongated receptacle when the flanges abut against each other. Near their upper ends, the buckets are welded or otherwise secured to parallel rockshafts t and 51 projecting through and journaled in a block 53 on the outer end of an arm 54 which is rigid with and projects forwardly from a vertical link 55. The lower end of the latter is connected to the lever arm 46 as indicated at 56 (Fig. 4) thus mounting the spout 34 on the arm for bodily movement therewith.

Means is provided for maintaining the spout 34 upright as it is lowered and raised into and out of the bag and, herein, is in the form of a parallelogram linkage. To provide the linkage, a second elongated lever arm 57 paralleling the first lever arm 46 and fulcrumed to the plate 43 at 58 above the fulcrum 47 is pivoted to the upper end of the link 55 as indicated at 59 and the connection 56 between the lower end of the link and the lever arm 46 mso is in the form of a pivot. The pivots 56 and 59 are equal distances from the fulcrums 47. and 58 of their respective arms so that the two lever arms and the link constitute the parallelogram linkage. With this arrangement, the link remains vertical thus maintaining the spout 34 in an upright position as it is raised and lowered.

The lever arms 46 ands57 move downwardly by gravity and are raised by a cam 61) (Fig. 1) acting on the roller 61 of a follower link 62 which is pivotally connected at 63 (Fig. 2) to the outer end of the lever arm 46; In the upper position of the arms, the lower or sharpened end of the spout 34 is disposed, as shown in full in Fig. 4, slightly above the upper open end of the bag dwelling at the station 13. Since the upper edge portions 32 of the bag panels are held apart by the splitter blades 33 and 35, the tip of the spout enters the mouth of the bag and separates the bag panels as the spout is lowered to the position shown in broken lines. To guide the arms and maintain the lower end of the spout when closed in the plane of the bag one or more rollers 64 secured to the link 55 ride in a vertical channel 65 on the plate 48.

In the present instance, the up and down motions of the spout support are utilized to open the spout 34 after entry into the bag and close the spout as it is retracted from the bag. For this purpose, an elongated lever 66 (Fig. 2) lies alongside the spout support 54 and near its forward end is secured to the rockshaft 51 which forms the fulcrum of the lever. The outer short end 67 of the lever is pivotally connected at 63 to one end of a link 69 inclined upwardly and across the dividing line between the buckets 49 and pivoted at 70 to the free end of a crank 71 fast on the rockshaft 50 and of a length equal to that of the arm 67. By rocking the lever 66 vertically through a small angle, the rockshafts 50 and 51' will be turned opening and closing the buckets 49. The spout closing movement is limited by engagement of the bucket edges while a stop 72 on the support 54 engages the lever 66 to determine the extent of the opening movement.

Preferably, the buckets 49 are opened and closed with a snap or over-center action and, for this purpose, the rear end portion of the lever 66 constitutes one link of a toggle 73 which includes a second link 74 pivotally connected at 75 to the lever and at its other end to the end of an arm 76 pivotally suspended from the support 54. A contractile spring 77 acts on the arm 76 to hold the toggle flexed with the spout 34 either open or closed. Flexing of the toggle links 66, '74 past the dead center position is eifected by opposed stops 78 and 79 (Fig. 3) adjustably mounted in vertically spaced relation on a projection 80 extending forwardly from the plate 48. Near the upper limit of the retracting movement of the spout 34, a pin 81 on the lever 66 encounters the stop 73 causing the lever in the final retracting movement of the spout to be swung downwardly relative to the arm 54 and past the dead center position thus bringing the edges of the buckets 49 together. In a similar way, the stop 79 blocks the movement of the pin 81 as the arms 46, 57 are swinging downwardly to lower the spout 34 into the bag, the toggle links 66 and 74 being flexed upwardly and then over-center to a position against the stop 72. The spout thus is opened allowing the charge of material carried thereby to fall by gravity into the bag.

The mechanism for opening the spout 34 as described above forms the subject matter of my copending application Serial No. 313,145, filed October 4, 1952.

The spout 41 at the second filling station 16 is constructed, mounted and actuated in the same manner as the spout 34 and the corresponding parts thereof are indicated by the same but primed reference numerals. In this case, however, the link 55 cooperates with the lever arms 46 and 57 to form the parallelogram linkage for holding the spout upright. Since, as previously described, the link 55"is secured to the arms 46 and 57 closer to the fulcrums 47 and 58 than the link 55, the spout 41 is moved through a correspondingly shorter distance and therefore enters the bag to a point above the cross seal 15. Thus the spout moves up and down between the positions shown in full and dotted outline in Fig. 4.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that, since both filling spouts 34 and 41 are raised and lowered together in response to the movement of the single actuating link 62, the dispensing mechanism is comparatively simple and is easy and inexpensive to manufacture. At the same time, each spout is lowered the proper distance, the spout 34 into the bag section 21 and the spout 41 into the section 20, so that each charge of material is dispensed directly into the section in which it is to be packaged. By using the two lever arms 46 and 57 to form a parallelogram linkage, the spouts are held upright for accurate entry into the bags.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a packaging machine having first and second stations horizontally spaced successively along a path of advance of bags to be filled, the combination of, a frame, a lever disposed above said path and fulcrumed on said frame at a point beyond said second station to swing about a horizontal axis extending transversely of the path, a filling spout disposed above said second station and mounted on said lever for bodily movement therewith, a second filling spout similarly mounted on said lever and disposed above said first station, a camshaft journaled on said frame, a cam carried by said camshaft, and a follower connected to said lever and engaging said cam to swing said lever about said axis thereby to lower said first spout a predetermined distance into a bag dwelling at said second station and said second spout a greater distance into a bag at said first station.

2. In a dispensing apparatus, the combination of, a first lever fulcrumed at one end to swing about a first horizontal axis, a second lever paralleling said first lever and fulcrumed adjacent said first axis to swing about a second and parallel axis, a first link pivoted to said first lever a predetermined distance from said first axis and to said second axis the same distance from said second axis, a second link disposed between said first link and said axes and similarly pivoted to said levers, a pair of filling lever between said first filling spout and said axis, mechanism for swinging said lever about said axis, and a link paralleling said lever and pivotally connected to said spouts to form with the lever a parallelogram linkage for maintaining the spouts vertically disposed during swinging of the lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 648,138 Adams et a1 Apr. 24,1900 

